Autoimmune disorders are diseases caused by the body producing an inappropriate immune response against its own tissues, in which the immune system creates T lymphocytes and autoantibodies that attack one's own cells, tissues, and/or organs. Researchers have identified 80-100 different autoimmune diseases and suspect at least 40 additional diseases of having an autoimmune basis.
Autoimmune disorders are classified into two types, organ-specific (directed mainly at one organ) and non-organ-specific (widely spread throughout the body). Examples of organ-specific autoimmune disorders are insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes which affects the pancreas, Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Graves' disease which affects the thyroid gland, pernicious anemia which affects the stomach, Addison's disease which affects the adrenal glands, chronic active hepatitis which affects the liver and myasthenia gravis which affects the muscle. Examples of non-organ-specific autoimmune disorders are rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and lupus.
Autoimmune diseases are often chronic, debilitating, and life-threatening. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates up to 23.5 million Americans suffer from autoimmune disease and that the prevalence is rising. It has been estimated that autoimmune diseases are among the ten leading causes of death among women in all age groups up to 65 years. Most autoimmune diseases cannot yet be treated directly, but are treated to alleviate the symptoms associated with the condition. Some of the current treatments include administration of corticosteroid drugs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or more powerful immunosuppressant drugs such as cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and azathioprine that suppress the immune response and stop the progression of the disease. Radiation of the lymph nodes and plasmapheresis (a procedure that removes the diseased cells and harmful molecules from the blood circulation) are other ways of treating an autoimmune disease. However, these treatments often have devastating long-term side effects
Thus, there exists a need in the art for safer and more effective methods for treatment and prevention of autoimmune diseases. The instant application addresses this need by describing a novel method for treatment of autoimmune diseases.